The epic discovery of Proxima b announced last week may represent humanity’s best chance to search for life among the stars. But is Proxima b habitable? Is it inhabited? These questions are impossible to answer at this time because we know so little about the planet, but SETI astronomers astrophysicists discuss possible answers with a distinctly French accent!

Last week also brought us a mysterious alien signal from a star system 94 light years from Earth. Picked up by Russian scientists last year, the signal did not come from an advanced extraterrestrial civilization, but from an old Soviet military satellite, said Russian news agency TASS, much to the disappointment of astronomers and alien enthusiasts across the world. But was it?

The originally reported source of the signal – HD 164595 – is a solar system which is a few billion years older than our own, but is centered on a star of a similar brightness and size to our Sun. The signal was picked up by the RATAN-600 radio telescope in Zelenchukskaya, Russia shown below.

However, significant number of people around our globe are not convinced by TASS’ version, believing it is one of the many cover ups aimed at deceiving us regarding the existence of advanced alien life from beyond our Solar System. They question Russia’s motives for the denial of the signals validity –you’ll have to draw your own conclusions.